1. Field of the Invention
The instant invention relates to that field of devices consisting of articles of manufacture known as protectors and visibility markers. Specifically, the instant invention is a fire hydrant protector and marker.
2. Background Information
The prior art known to the Inventor discloses that various forms of protective containers and visibility markers are well known throughout the arts. Such protective containers are manufactured to serve a wide variety of uses, from the most generic, such as a cardboard box or thin sheet-like flexible bag, to complicated and use specific, such as form fitted locking cases for hand guns and rifles. Furthermore, visibility markers are also quite well known, and include simple examples such as a brightly colored stick or a rod with a plastic light reflective medallion mounted thereto, to more complicated examples such as steel towers festooned with flashing lights near aviation landing strips.
Perhaps of most particular relevance are the partially open protective containers used frequently in geographical regions where there are significant amounts of winter snowfall. In their most common example, these are essentially a “lean to” which is little more than a pair of wooden boards or planks set over a shrubbery or sapling such that together they form an inverted “V” shape, the peak of which is located above the topmost portion of the tree or shrubbery. A winter snow protective lean-to such as this is used most often to prevent heavy winter snow from completely covering the plant and potentially crushing or otherwise deforming its shape over the course of the winter.
The instant invention is a protective cover and visibility marker for use on fire hydrants, especially during the winter months in areas where winter snow is often of significant accumulated depths such that the fire hydrant may become covered by that snow. In the prior art known to the Inventor, there has been absolutely no attempt made to prevent these fire hydrants from becoming covered by snow, and only the most rudimentary attempts to mark them with visibility markers in those instances in which they have become covered. These rudimentary attempts are best known by the use of a painted stick or rod having some form of visibility device (a reflective badge, for example) which is shoved into the snow in close proximity to the fully buried fire hydrant.
The reason for desiring a marker in close proximity to the buried fire hydrant is also well known. During winter months, in places where snow accumulation is significant enough to cover a ground mounted (for example, located on a side walk, along side a road) fire hydrant, it is common to use a mechanical snow plow to move that snow off the street and permit the freer and easier flow of motor vehicle traffic. However, many mechanical snowplows are mounted onto motor vehicles including trucks such that the blade of the snowplow reaches either over or extremely close to the sidewalk. It is not unusual during winter months for the snowplow to hit sidewalk-mounted articles such as street sign poles and the like. And while a bent street sign pole is an unnecessary and unwanted cost due to its required replacement after the snow melts, it does not constitute the sort of hazard and potentially life threatening danger that striking a buried fire hydrant can cause.
In the event that a fire hydrant is damaged by a mechanical snowplow, water flowing at a significant rate and under significant pressure is released from the hydrant, and flows into the surrounding environment. In winter months, this water may freeze quite quickly, resulting in slippery and dangerous conditions for both motor vehicles and pedestrians alike. Furthermore, a damaged fire hydrant is temporarily unusable for its intended purpose (providing a water source for extinguishing near by fires) until it has either been repaired or replaced. This means that for the period of time the hydrant is unusable, buildings and structures in the vicinity are at increased risk of burning to the ground, with the attendant possible loss of human life.
Finally, it is well known among those who must use fire hydrants during emergencies (“firefighters” and other fire suppression personnel) that the accumulation of snow on and about fire hydrants causes delays in utilizing the fire hydrant in an emergency. First, the precise location of the hydrant must be determined when it is covered in snow. Next, the hydrant must be dug out from under the snow before it can be used. And given that most hydrants include connection points which extend outwardly and away from the usually cylindrical body of the fire hydrant, it is necessary to dig not only through the snow to the hydrant itself, but to clear a sufficient area radially away from the hydrant such that the connection points are unobstructed by the snow.
To date, it has simply been a fact of life that fire hydrants are often difficult to locate and access in areas of significant snow accumulation. No attempt has been made thus far to remedy this particular problem in a way that recognizes not only the need to locate the hydrant, but to prevent the build up of snow so as to keep the connection points clear and accessible.